"Levana, please, you haven't been out of bed in over a month! Come on, would you just talk to me?" Akiho begged, looking at the lump under the violet covers that was her best friend.

No answer.

Akiho sighed, resuming her incessant pacing around the room. She had no idea what was wrong with Levana. All she remembered from that night was seeing a bloody dress fall to the floor and hearing her sobs that lasted throughout the dark, painful hours. She had tried to strike up conversation, about anything, but Levana wouldn't have it. The only words that she had said in the past month were 'go away'. She rarely ever left her bed, save for the occasional trip to the bathroom, and only when those were absolutely necessary.

"Levana, if you don't come out this instant, then I'm going to make you!" Akiho put her prongs—which were folded into fists—on her hips, a playful authority in her voice.

All she got was a soft groan of protest in return.

Akiho sighed and trudged next to the bed, tapping an arm impatiently on the edge of the metal frame, her sensor flashing. She then gripped the purple comforter in her prong and pulled it off with a flick of her metallic wrist, letting the thick, luxurious fabric pool on the floor beside her.

"Levana. Get. Up. Now."

Levana finally responded, but not in the way Akiho had hoped. Instead of getting out of bed and finally doing something productive, she instead bolted upright, held a pillow to her face, and screamed on the top of her lungs, a shrill noise that nearly shattered the room's glass windows. Akiho flinched back, her sensor flashing erratically, while Levana continued to scream, until her vocal cords felt like they were burning. She let out a choked sob and fell back, burying her head in the pillow.

"Wha..." Akiho shook her bulbous head, dazed. "What was that?"

"Please, Akiho...just...leave me alone..." Levana moaned, her voice raspy from her screams, her entire body trembling. Her chest was heaving beneath the silk nightgown she was wearing, the hem of the skirt reaching just above her knees, her feet bare, as for her hands, making her metal limb visible.

The android sighed. "Come on, Levana, you can't just hide in bed until you die! Please, tell me what happened! What about Saito?"

A long pause.

"I don't want to talk about it," Levana sniffed. "And also, I am a princess. I can do whatever the hell I want."

"Um...no, you can't..."

Levana turned over, her back facing the android, letting out a grunt of irritation.

"Look. This had gone far enough. If you don't get up and go outside right now to get some fresh air, I'll go and get Channary to kick your butt, for your own good, and I don't care if you're against it."

Levana sat up and glared at her, her auburn curls splayed around in a mess of hair, like a crimson sunset. Her onyx eyes were dull yet sharp, and the bags underneath them were nearly a pitch black, her cheeks red and blotchy from crying and screaming. "Who do you think you—"

She was cut off mid-sentence, however, by a sudden wave of nausea making her dizzy, bile rising in her throat, and she clapped a hand over her mouth. So quick that she nearly ran Akiho over, she jumped off her bed and raced to her bathroom, dropping to her knees in front of the toilet and throwing up, the acid making her throat and mouth burn, tears running down her face.

"Levana, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Akiho sped over and stood beside her, placing a prong on her shoulder, just as Levana was finishing up and wiping her mouth.

The princess whimpered and sat down, wrapping her arms around her chest, sobs wracking her body and making her shiver. "I-I really don't feel good..." she moaned in pain, her stomach still churning. Akiho took her in her arms and Levana clutched onto her, still crying.

"Okay, Levana, that's it." Akiho pulled her shoulders away, looking at her straight in the eyes. "Tell me everything. What's wrong?"

Levana hiccuped. "S-Saito...he...he..."

Akiho sensor blinked and her fan whirred as she searched up the emperor for any news at all. "What about him? Speaking of which...why haven't you commed in so long? Have you split?" Akiho asked, her voice wavering.

Levana continued to sob. "No...he's...he's dead; Channary killed him. Because...she wanted to be empress..."

Akiho let out a cry of disbelief, of despair. "Oh, Levana..." she held the princess closer, and despite only being a machine made of metal, Levana wrapped her arms around the android, holding her to her chest.

"But that's not all...Channary let some guard..."

Akiho ran a prong through her messy auburn hair. "What did she let him do?"

"She let him..." Another tear ran down Levana's cheek and she pressed her legs together, "She let him...rape me..." she said, barely above a whisper.

"Rape you?" Akiho's fan whirred as she looked up the word. "Oh, Stars..." She looked down. "Oh my God, Levana..."

The princess let out another sob, her hands clenching into fists. "Yes. So this...maybe I got a disease of some sort..." She looked down at herself. "I think I may have gained a little weight lately..."

Akiho's sensor flashed, her connection to the net database allowing her to search up the symptoms, trying to match them up to a certain illness, until one article popped up that made her tense up. "Um...Levana? I don't think you're sick..."

Levana sniffed. "What?"

Akiho turned to her. "When did you...last have your period?" she asked warily, staring at her with her sensor blank.

Crickets. Crickets with tiny socks on their legs couldn't have been more quiet. Levana paled even more, her face becoming as white as a sheet.

Her period...the last time she had it was two months ago. She was late.

She jumped to her feet and ran to the cabinets on the far end of the bathroom, flinging them open and tearing through their contents, pill bottles and bandages and balms falling and rolling around on the floor, until she found what she was looking for—a test needle, that served to detect different diseases and hormones—including those from pregnancy.

She set the needle to detect the 'hCG' hormone, and held her arm out, sticking it into the most visible artery. She paced around the room, chewing the nails of one of her hands, holding the needle against her arm with the other. "No, no, no! You're wrong! It's just a bug, just a bug..."

But the signs were all there. Morning sickness, weight gain, a late cycle. But Levana was not willing to accept the impossible. She wasn't pregnant. No way. SHE WAS NOT PREGNANT!

Beep!

Levana looked down at the needle, the display showing her the results, her blood running cold and her heart pounding.

Test results: Positive

No.

She dropped the needle, her knees suddenly dysfunctional, and she fell to the ground, clutching her skirt in clenched fists. "I'm pregnant..." she mumbled, her eyes wide, her entire body shaking.

Akiho rolled over. "Levana, it's okay—"

"No, this is definitely NOT okay! I'm nineteen and pregnant, Akiho." Another choked sob escaped her lips. "What am I going to do?"

"Please, just relax! Getting all upset will only make things worse—"

"No." Levana stood up, not even hearing her. "There's only one thing to do. Only one solution."

"What do you mean?" Akiho recoiled a bit. "What are you going to do about this?"

"The only thing I can do," Levana hiccuped again, "I just can't live like this anymore! No one will listen...no one can hear me..." She took a deep breath. "So I'm silencing myself...forever."

Levana went to her closet and pulled on a coat, slipping her feet into a pair of boots, her cheeks soaked in tears. She buttoned up the coat, gazing at the jewelled band on her finger, grief for Saito, the only one who ever loved her, welling up within her and threatening to choke her alive. She kissed it softly before walking over to the door of her bedroom.

"I'm sorry...but this is my only option," she hiccuped. "My only way out." She wrenched the door open, stepping through it, gripping the doorframe with white knuckles. "Goodbye, Akiho."

"No, Levana, don't!" Akiho rolled over as fast as she could her arms held out, but she was too late, as the door slammed in her face. She shrieked, panic flooding through her, an emotion that she didn't even know androids could experience. Her sensor was black, flashing erratically. She couldn't think. She couldn't function.

She had to get help.

The android flung the door open and flew down the halls, as fast as her wheels could take her. She had only one destination in mind: the queen's study. She knew that trying to talk to Channary was like a death warrant, but she was too desperate.

She screeched to a halt in front of the sleek doors to the study, her metal prong grasping the handle. However, just as she was about to pull the door open, she froze as a sudden realization hit her.

What was she thinking? How did she even know that Channary would listen to her? That she would even care? After what she had already done to Levana?

She wouldn't.

But if she didn't go to Channary, who could she go to? There was no one else in that part of the palace.

Unless...

She turned around at the sound of clinking weapons coming from the training studio down the hall, and she prayed that there was someone in there who would listen...who would help.

Help her save her best friend.

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Levana shivered as she stood on the edge of the palace's roof, the cold wind blowing through her messy locks, her tails of her coat whipping around her legs. She peered down the edge and nearly took a step back, almost afraid. It had to be at least a fifty foot drop, with the outside walls of the palace jagged and sharp, huge rocks protruding out of the Artemisia lake's crystalline waters, and Levana stared down at her death below.

(so cold so deep I'm going to die here and it's going to be okay relax you want this you've wanted this for forever)

She let out another sob, completely devastated.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry I didn't listen to you, Saito! You were right, about everything. Please forgive me!" she cried out, her hands shaking from the cold. Looking down at her flat stomach, she rubbed it gently, more tears running down her face.

"I'm sorry, my little one. I'm sorry you will never live to see the earth above, but I promise...it's better this way," she whispered before standing up, looking down at the rippling waves of the lake below. As she said one final prayer, she stepped forward, and jumped into oblivion.

The fall was like an out-of-body experience, time seeming to have screeched to a halt, and she felt something tearing at her side, sharp pain flooding through her, but she was too far gone to feel it. Her hair floated in a halo of red around her, her hands limp and hovering. What little breath she had left her as she hit the water, the brute force giving her whiplash. The freezing cold made her body seize. She couldn't do anything but sink lower into the water, her lips parted and letting water in, drowning her. But she didn't care.

(no more never again I'll never be hurt again I'll be okay I'll be dead)

Most people would be afraid of death, would be panicking, struggling to rise back up to the surface, but Levana welcomed it with open arms, and couldn't help but feel relieved. Finally, her suffering was over. It was finally the end.

Please let me not wake again, ever.